Former President Olusegun Obasanjo, has said the whole world is watching Nigeria to see whether the President Mohammadu Buhari government would conduct a free, credible and fair election. The world, he said is also interested to see whether the Buhari administration would hand over power if he loses, as the case was when he, as an opposition politician was handed power when the incumbent lost.
He spoke, today, at the launch of a book in Abuja titled: Politics As Dashed Hopes, written by Dr Awalu Awal. The book was published by Safara Books, Ibadan.
Obasanjo said it is not only Nigeria that the world is watching but also Senegal, Ghana and Cote D’Ivoire, where the presidents who emerged were from the opposition parties.
He expressed gratitude that a number of countries have taken responsibility to help protect our democracy, and many Nigerians are also now rising up to protect her democracy, adding that anyone who stands up and approve what is going on in Nigeria is part of the perpetrator of the ongoing evil.
“If you cherish democracy we should guide our fledgling democracy which is the focus of the book”, he argues.
Contrary to the tone of despair expressed by the book, Obasanjo said he was hopeful. “I am not in despair. Our hope lies in democracy and good government, which lies in free and fair election”, he said.
He once again took a swipe at the President Muhammadu Buhari administration when he agreed with the opinion expressed in the book that the current administration has failed in key three areas of security, fighting corruption and job creation.
Obasanjo, noted that Dr Awalu Awal has accurately captured the failures of the Buhari administration, in that it has not been able to achieve its vision of securing Nigeria, fighting corruption and creating jobs for the teeming unemployed Nigerians.
He said the title of the book, apart from the content which he has read, aptly show the authors frustration in not seeing progress in the three key areas of national development.
In the book, the writer gave a historical overview of the emergence of the Buhari administration, the players in his emergence and the vision that drove his emergence. It is a commentary of the current political event and the politics of the Buhari mass movement, as reflected by the North and its failures.
According to Obasanjo, leadership should be exemplary and power should not be sought for the sake of power and for self-aggrandizement.
Professors Usman Bugaji who gave a keynote address at the book launch explained why Nigeria’s hope of development and progress are dashed at every election circle. He narrowed it to three key factors which include poor character of our political parties, lack of elite consensus and poor appreciation of the future.
He said most of those involved in politics in Nigeria who eventually get elected are not suitable, though they may be eligible. Eligibility should not be confused with suitability, he said, adding that “There is a lot of confusion in our national discourse. We have assumed that the fact that you have school certificate then you are suitable”.
Nigerian politics, Bugaji said is built on people; the big man syndrome and not on big idea; on money and vile. “We have to make a transition from politics of big men to politics of big ideas.
“ Our recruitment mechanism is faulty; competence is not prioritized, strange ideas of loyalty, not to country but to persons, that is why nepotism is growing—this will continue until we change the character of our politics”, he argued.
According to him there is no consensus among the elites as to the direction the country should go as every one of them is pulling the country towards his or her geographical direction.
Nigerians, he said further have a poor appreciation of the direction of the future which is in wealth creation though the knowledge economy and IT and not in oil.
Nigerians, Bugaji noted have a poor understanding of power which is used mainly as a coercive tool as against power as a persuasive as he practiced in several developed countries. Sharp power, he said is subversive and subterranean and does not engender good governance is a corporate scientific business.
Hard work no longer works, but smartness does, he posited urging that “we have to have people who can appreciate the future to lead us”.
